Yahoo Finance MotorCycle Holdings Limited's (ASX:MTO) Stock On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Momentum?
Most readers would already be aware that MotorCycle Holdings' (ASX:MTO) stock increased significantly by 12% over the past month. As most would know, fundamentals are what usually guide market price movements over the long-term, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. Specifically, we decided to study MotorCycle Holdings' ROE in this article.
ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
View our latest analysis for MotorCycle Holdings
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for MotorCycle Holdings is:
12% = AU$23m ÷ AU$198m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every A$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated A$0.12 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.
MotorCycle Holdings' Earnings Growth And 12% ROE
To start with, MotorCycle Holdings' ROE looks acceptable. Be that as it may, the company's ROE is still quite lower than the industry average of 20%. That being the case, the significant five-year 30% net income growth reported by MotorCycle Holdings comes as a pleasant surprise. Therefore, there could be other causes behind this growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently. However, not to forget, the company does have a decent ROE to begin with, just that it is lower than the industry average. So this certainly also provides some context to the high earnings growth seen by the company.
As a next step, we compared MotorCycle Holdings' net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 20%.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for MTO? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is MotorCycle Holdings Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
The high three-year median payout ratio of 58% (implying that it keeps only 42% of profits) for MotorCycle Holdings suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders.
Moreover, MotorCycle Holdings is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of seven years of paying a dividend. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 58%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 11%.
Summary
In total, it does look like MotorCycle Holdings has some positive aspects to its business. Specifically, its respectable ROE which likely led to the considerable growth in earnings. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
